President Richard Nixon authorized the Lincoln Home National Historic Site Aug. 18, 1971. The park was formally established on Oct. 9, 1972, to preserve and protect the only home ever owned by President Abraham Lincoln. In total, the park’s buildings make up four-and-a-half square blocks on 12 acres. Among the buildings is the home where the 16th president of the United States lived from 1844 to 1861.
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
This house in Springfield, Ill., is the only home that Lincoln ever owned. He lived there from 1844 until he was left for Washington, D.C., in 1861. (Photo by Todd DeFeo)